The controversy led to many years of bitterness and nearly fifty years of civil war in Germany. This war ended with the triumph of the great dukes and abbots, and the falling apart of the German empire in the end.

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When Gregory VII, a reformist monk, was elected as pope in 1073, the controversy between emperor and pope began.

In the higher ranks of the German clergy, Gregory had many enemies. Therefore King Henry declared Gregory was no longer pope and the Romans should choose a new pope [1]. When Gregory heard of this he excommunicated Henry IV, declared he was no longer emperor and absolved his subjects from the oaths they had sworn to him.

The [excommunication] of the king made a deep impression both in Germany and Italy. Thirty years before, Henry III had deposed three popes, but when Henry IV tried to copy this procedure he did not have the support of the people. The Saxons began a second rebellion, and the anti-royalist party grew in strength from month to month.

The opposition of the rebellious German nobles used the excommunication of Henry to set up a rival king Duke Rudolph of Swabia (Forchheim, March 1077). At first Gregory seemed to be neutral because the two parties (emperor and rebels) were of fairly equal strength. But finally he decided for Rudolph of Swabia after his victory at Flarchheim (27 January 1080) and declared the excommunication and deposition of King Henry again (7 March 1080).

This was widely felt to be an injustice. When Rudolph of Swabia died on 16 October of the same year, Henry, now more experienced, took up the struggle. In 1081 he opened the conflict against Gregory in Italy. Gregory had now become less powerful, and thirteen cardinals deserted him. Rome surrendered to the German king, and Guibert of Ravenna enthroned as Clement III (24 March 1084). Henry was crowned emperor by his rival, while Gregory himself had to flee from Rome in the company of his Norman "vassal," Robert Guiscard.